From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday said it was uncomfortable with the silence of former governor of Lagos State and Chancellor, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on the crisis that has paralysed academic activities in the institution for more than one year.
The LAUTECH ASUU chairman, Dr. Biodun Olaniran, expressed the concern when he spoke at a media chat organised by the South West Group of Online Publishers in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
The purported silence of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the matter, according to him, would not help the institution, which is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun States, come out of the quagmire in good time.
The union also took a swipe at the vice chancellor of the institution and members of the Governing Board on the crisis, rocking LAUTECH.
Olaniran said: “We are not comfortable with Asiwaju Tinubu’s silence on the matter. He has a significant role to play and we want him to quickly intervene and bring an end to the lingering crisis. Up till now, the Governing Council and management are yet to say anything over the matter and this is suspicious.”
He described the major problem of the institution, as chronic underfunding, adding that the Internally Generated Revenue(IGR) of the institution was not enough to run its affairs.
“As we speak now, LAUTECH can no longer pay for utility services. The institution has been in darkness for some weeks now because they owe Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) and others,” Olaniran said.
The ASUU, however, appealed to relevant stakeholders to prevail on the owner states to faithfully implement the recommendations of a Visitation Panel headed by a legal luminary, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN).
The panel, according to him, recommended immediate payment of N1.77 billion for the institution by September and another N1.77 billion between April and September 2017 so that the institution would resume normal academic and administrative activities.
Olaniran further asked the owner states to tell the public what they want to do with the school, saying: “The Wole Olanipekun reports said they could not lay claim to the university without financial commitment. They should implement the recommendations of the committee.”
He put the genesis of the crisis at the doorstep of Osun State government, alleging that: “It started in December, 2013 when the governor failed to release N292 million. Since then, management has been trying to share the internally generated revenue but it is not sustainable. We cannot use internally generated revenue to pay salaries, it is not enough; it is the sole responsibility of the owner states to do.”
“It is not acceptable. By the time we are doing that it means we are running a private university. Universities are not meant to pay salaries alone. Private universities receive subvention.”
On the clamour that the Federal Government should take over the institution, ASUU said:”The onus is on the owners state to approach the Federal Government if they are not financially capable but the decision has to come from them.”